Update: ESPN FPI projects Arkansas' remaining 7 games

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It resulted in a loss, but Arkansas' showing in the Southwest Classic at AT&T Stadium gave some reason for optimism for the rest of the season.

Despite being stopped 19 yards shy of a game-winning touchdown on fourth down in the closing seconds, the Razorbacks saw their numbers in ESPN's Football Power Index increase after the 31-27 loss to Texas A&M.

Their chances of getting to six wins and making a bowl game improved slightly - from 0.8% to 1.1% - but more encouraging was their chance of repeating last year's 2-10 record dropped several percentage points, from 15.1% to 12.0%. Both are illustrated in the graphs below.

That movement is largely due to the fact that Arkansas' chances of winning went up for six of its remaining seven games, as seen in the first chart. The lone exception is the Auburn game, which took a slight dip.

Arkansas' best chances of snapping its long SEC losing streak are against Mississippi State (20.9%), at Kentucky (18.7%) and against Missouri (15.4%) in Little Rock. Using those percentages, the Razorbacks nearly have a 50/50 shot - 45.6% to be exact - of winning at least one of those games.

Their other three SEC games are against No. 1 Alabama, No. 5 LSU and No. 7 Auburn. ESPN's FPI gives them just an 8.5% chance to win at least one of those games.

However, despite its increased odds almost across the board, Arkansas is still most likely to finish the season 3-9. As seen in the second chart, it has a 47.0% chance to win just one more game. On the bright side, though, it now has a 31.5% chance to double last year's win total and finish 4-8 - up 3.9 percentage points from last week.